Pew Research Profiles ‘Friends’ On Facebook

Social media has taken a significant part of our lives in recent years. And by taking a sneak peek at the social networks, one can discern a lot of social trends. Specifically, by taking a close look at the social network giant – Facebook, one can easily see what are the prevalent trends among different age groups. Now, Pew Research, an independent research center focusing primarily on American social issues and trends, has released the results of a detailed study of Facebook trends.

The report, titled “Facebook: A Profile of Its ‘Friends'”, was published in Pew Internet & American Life Project website. The data for this article was gathered, over the years, by Pew Research with the help of different polls and surveys. A lot of interesting facts have been revealed in this report.

According to the report, Facebook users aged between 18 – 34 normally have the highest number of friends. The average number of friends this age group has is 318.5. Next to them is the age group 35 – 46, which averages at 197.6 friends each. People aged beyond 75 years tend to have the least friends on Facebook, at average a mere 42 friends. When considering all Facebook users, every user has 229 friends on average.

Since Facebook initially gained momentum in high schools and universities, it is no surprise that 22 percent of the social network’s population is high school students. One very interesting revelation in the study is that Facebook users tend to have stronger, more fulfilling relationships with each other as compared to other internet users. Also, these users are more likely to be socially active in their real lives.

Although, many users are found complaining about add requests from strangers, 80 percent of friend requests on Facebook are accepted.

Again, the group which is most active in updating its status regularly is aged between 18 – 34. And, given the fact that Facebook has been the primary launchpad for Arab spring and many other recent activist movements; the study finds that Facebook users are more likely to be politically aware and active, compared to users of other social media sites.

While all these are very promising statistics, the study also shows how users are getting more concerned about Facebook’s privacy policies and tend to be more on the guard and careful than before.